A coworker and I were talking the other day. He has been putting off
working on a Miata he used to race. It was sitting for about two years.
Apparently I had enough influence on him that he finally started putting
it back together. I mentioned to him that he could get a Porsche
911 for a reasonable price if he was will to get an older model. The
key, I told him, was to find a car being sold by its owner... no
dealers. You ideally find a car being sold by the original owner that
was well maintained and now he is too old to want it.

I found a really nice 1996 911 for $26,000 and sent the link to my
friend. He told me his wife is not going to allow him to talk to me
anymore. He He.

This got me to thinking. What if you were on a tight budget and
looking for a cool, used car to drive. How tight a budget? Let's say
$15,000. Since my co-worker and I started talking about Porsches and the
911/Boxster/Cayman, I wanted see if there were any decent models out
there for as little as $15K.

So this article was born. Now, I have a brother-in-law that did just
this... waiting until he found the "just right" car. In his case it was
a 1990 Porsche 911 S4 Cabriolet for $23,000.

The hunt was on.

What cars to look for? Of course we need to look at Porsche. And as
soon as I thought about that all the Porsches came to mind. The 911 and
Boxster are easy, but what about the 928 & 944. I then started looking
at BMW, Mercedes and even Jaguar. I decided to allow a little mainstream
cars into this mix with some Japanese coupes.

I did all my research on AutoTrader. Since I was not expecting a
warranty on any car I saw, I looked only at private seller
vehicles. No dealers! I also tried to stay in Texas. I wanted
this to be a real search. But when I had trouble finding cars I did go
further than the Lone Star State. Let's see what we turned up.

Porsche 911

We'll start with the car that inspired this article. I found two 911s worth mentioning. The first was local (as in Texas).
This one was to prove I could find a nice 911 for $15K. The second one
is an older high mileage 911. I love the look of this older "classic"
one. It also is exactly what you want to find, a one owner well
maintained car. For $10K that would leave plenty of money left over if
maintenance became an issue. This 1983 911 is one of my two favorite
cars n this entire list.

I used to really love these cars when they were new. I particularly
loved the smooth taillight look of the 1987+ cars. As it turns out there
are quite a few 928s out there, but not many under $15K that are worth
looking at. But some due diligence turned up some nice cars. The 87
model saves us $3K as long as the body work was well done. At this price
we are looking for a "cool" daily driver so I don't mind the bodywork. I
am pulled hard toward the 89 model with only 65K miles. We see what looks
like a Lexus SC400 in behind it, so this guy probably takes care of
his high priced toys.

1987
Porsche 928 S4, 115K miles, $12,000
Car is in very good condition. A/C works. The car was involved
in an accident early last year (front left fender was hit), but
was professionally repaired.

1989
Porsche 928 S4, 65K miles, $15,000This car has been garage kept for years and ran on
occasion. I have put a lot of time and money into this car and
kept it up perfectly.

Porsche 944

I remember reading an article in the late 1980's from Car and Driver.
They did a massive three part comparison. Part one determined the best
handling import, the second covered the best handling domestic, and
the third in the series pit the two previous winners to crown the best
handle car... bar none. Yep, the Porsche 944 won the title. These cars
are very well balanced. In turbo form they are relatively fast, but I
would not try to take a Mustang GT at a light. The point is these car
are affordable. However, with the 944 you have to look even harder. You
will see a lot of cars. Most of them have been modified at this point.
You are rarely going to find a one owner original. I was lucky to find a
944 Turbo S. This was special, and if stock is the 944
you want to get.

1988
Porsche 944 Turbo S, 140K miles
$13,000
RARE 944 Turbo S Porsche!!! There were only 318 of these cars
built between 1988-1989. This is a MUST have! All the bells and
whistles 5-speed, CD/MP3 player, alarm, sunroof, Yokohama tires
etc.. Super fast car!

Compared to many of the cars here the Boxster is almost a common car.
But finding nice ones under $15 is a bit of a challenge. I really like
the blue one below... for its color. The black one has some nice wheels to set
it off from the crowd.

When I decided to do this I was only thinking Porsche. Then it dawned
on me that I should do a quick search on other brands and see what
popped up. I am glad I did, bacause I found a couple of very interesting BMWs. I
was stunned to see an 850i show up in this price range. This car
is really cool. It is my other favorite with the Maroon 911 above. I also really like the "old" M3. This was the first
generation M3 with the bulging fender flares. I remember really liking
this body style with it was new. These are hard to find, but I did find
one. The 325is is very low in price and it was heavily modified. This
might be a mistake, but at the price I would be interested in a test drive
and inspection of this little car. As for the 540i, well
it looks like Darth Vader's sedan. I like this body style better than
the new 5 Series.

1989 BMW M3
Coupe, 199,200, $15,000
Original E30 M3, one of the 25 greatest cars of all time. Owner
since 1997. The car is in
very good condition and always serviced at Bavarian Tuning.

Mercedes

We start with some unusual, big coupes from MB. One an 8 and one a 12
cylinder car. Next up was a pair of SL convertibles. These cars get very
expensive to repair, so you should consider that if you are in the
market. I like that the mileage on all these cars is reasonable if you
want a cool daily driver.

While I was looking I thought I would just give some of the "lesser"
luxury brands a shot at making the list. I was surprised to see a Jaguar
convertible in the mix at this price range. I also thought the Japanese
deserve some attention. The Lexus claimed the wheels don't come with the
car, but I would argue against that. He, if he doesn't want to part with
the wheels I saw a silver SC400 for $11,000. I didn't include it here
because it was too plain looking. So he gives us the wheels, takes off
enough from the price to buy cool wheels, or we find another car. As for
the other cars, I just thought it was appropriate. I test drove an Acura
3.2CL Type-S Coupe when we bought our MDX. I liked it a lot. How could I
now include a G35 coupe if I could find one priced right.

I went through this list and realized I left out two important
vehicles. This whole thing started with a conversation on a Miata. And
how could I come up with a list of cool cars without mentioning the
Corvette. Well, the Miata is in a totally different class from the cars
here. In fact I should lower the price range for an inexpensive "toy"
Miata.

As for the Corvette, well at the $15K range that mostly means 4th or
5th generation Vettes. I really like the 6th generation cars from 2005
and up, but these won't be found for $15,000 for a while. The C5
versions bother me because of the parts bin interiors. Heck, the stereo
in a C5 is the same stereo from the 99 Suburban I used to have.

Next month I think I will try to make this topic work for the Mazda
and Chevrolet sports cars. I wonder if I am missing some cars in this
group.
Let me know and I will work it into next month's article.

Until then enjoy a taste of what $15,000 will buy from the list
above.